Autumn Young ’27

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Before Autumn Young ’27 helped investigate utility companies as a law student, she worked for one. Now, that experience is helping her build a legal career at the intersection of business and the law.

The third-year student at Widener University Commonwealth Law School has spent her legal education exploring how businesses operate, how regulators hold them accountable and how attorneys guide their decisions. Through internships with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and TE Connectivity, she has worked on matters ranging from utility enforcement to government contracts and mergers and acquisitions.

Young, who plans to become the first attorney in her family, hopes to return to Philadelphia after graduation to pursue corporate law, with interests in utilities and intellectual property. Along the way, she’s making sure other students have someone to turn to as they build careers of their own.

“Everything I know, I’ve tried to give to first-year students,” she said.

Her interest in corporate legal work began before law school, while working at PECO in Philadelphia. Meeting the company’s general counsel gave her a closer look at a career she hadn’t grown up seeing firsthand.

Later, a conversation at a Business Law Society panel connected that work history to a new opportunity. After Young spoke with a Public Utility Commission employee about her background, the employee helped arrange a meeting that led to an internship lasting throughout Young’s second year.

Working in the commission’s Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement, Young helped investigate utility companies’ compliance with the law and worked on settlement matters. The experience introduced her to administrative law while allowing her to examine a familiar industry from the regulator’s perspective.

At TE Connectivity the following summer, she saw how attorneys help a global manufacturing company make decisions. Its legal department gave her access to lawyers working across corporate transactions, real estate, cybersecurity and other areas.

Young worked on government contracts, mergers and acquisitions, and business matters, gaining an appreciation for the strategic thinking behind legal advice. She learned to consider what a company needs from its attorneys and how that advice fits into broader business plans.

“I got to see from a client’s perspective what the client would want from a lawyer,” she said.

An earlier judicial internship in a Court of Common Pleas gave her experience researching and writing an opinion for a judge while observing attorneys in court. She valued the opportunity to see litigation up close, even as it helped confirm her preference for corporate work.

Young’s mother had pictured her becoming a lawyer long before Young did.

Growing up in Philadelphia, Young was the child who wanted an explanation. Why did something matter? Why did it have to be done a certain way? Her mother, a labor and delivery nurse, saw potential in that persistence.

Young initially followed her father’s advice to study business, earning a business administration degree from Cheyney University in 2020. After graduation, she began working and thinking more seriously about what she wanted from a career.

Her Christian faith helped guide the decision to return to school. Young recalled praying about her future, then learning that a woman from her church had encouraged her mother to talk with her about law school. Combined with her exposure to PECO’s general counsel, the conversation gave her reason to revisit the idea.

Once she began studying law, her habit of asking questions found a purpose.

“I think asking why helps you be a better attorney,” she said.

Young learned to approach her coursework by understanding what each subject would require of her in practice. Civil procedure, for example, became a lesson in how to get a client’s argument before a court. Contracts connected legal principles to agreements people make every day.

Young credits the late Juliet M. Moringiello, a professor and former associate dean for academic affairs, and Professor Robyn Meadows with helping her develop the habits and confidence she’ll take into practice.

Moringiello, who died in February 2025, set high expectations in Young’s first-year property class. Her emphasis on preparation taught Young to work through unfamiliar material and reach her own conclusions before asking for guidance, an approach she carried into her internships.

Young also admired how both professors combined deep legal knowledge with the confidence to be themselves. Watching them teach helped her picture how she could bring her own personality and convictions to a legal career.

“They’re both themselves. They’re both very brilliant. They both excel in their careers,” she said.

She also draws encouragement from Dean andré douglas pond cummings’ commitment to students and willingness to advocate for causes he believes in.

That example carries into her own leadership with the Black Law Students Association, or BLSA.

Young became more involved near the end of her first year after encouragement from the organization’s president. She served as secretary during her second year and saw how much it mattered for Black students to have a community where they could speak openly, ask questions, and share advice.

Having grown up in predominantly Black communities and attended a historically Black university, Young appreciated finding that connection in law school. She wanted to help create it for others.

Her approach is practical: Be honest about the workload, help students strengthen their writing and legal citation skills, and make it clear that they can ask for help. If she doesn’t know an answer, she’ll help find it.

“You’re welcome here. We want you here,” she said.

The title mattered less to Young than the opportunity to share what she had learned. She wanted newer students to benefit from her experience rather than have to figure everything out on their own.

Young, who also participates in the Business Law Society and Women’s Law Caucus, said law school has broadened her perspective through friendships with classmates whose backgrounds differ from her own. Those relationships have helped her recognize common ground and approach unfamiliar viewpoints with greater openness.

She found that sense of connection in Harrisburg, too. The smaller campus suited her, and she appreciated having a quiet place to focus while remaining within reach of her family in Philadelphia.

As she looks toward graduation, Young plans to return home, where her fiancé and family live. She’ll take with her an appreciation for the way classmates can challenge one another while still working together.

For students considering law school, her advice is to understand the commitment and give themselves time to grow.

“It’s a slow grind. It’s a hustle, but I think it’s worth it,” she said.

Interview was conducted in Fall 2026.